r/Catholic

Hey so I’ve been asking around a question that nobody really can answer or find people going around the question.

Question: a person who has good moral and values and does no harm but does not believe in a god vs a person who kills, steals, sins and has bad morales and values but in the end believes in god.

How does a “god” determine whether the one who is good can still go to hell vs the one who sins can go to heaven because he repents?

Christianity is hella strict that if you want to go to heaven you also have to believe in God

Maybe this is a wrong place to post but eh id say why not

So I went to a Spanish speaking mass at St. Patrick’s in Manhattan on Sunday and something strange happened that I just can’t get out of my head. A lady started blessing? children in the middle of the mass.

I was carrying my toddler and she raised her hand towards him saying something to herself. And then when two kids got near her by passing she placed her hand on their foreheads.

Then while kneeling during the liturgy of the Eucharist, as it was raised, she (standing) shook her body or more like aggressively and decidedly humped 3 times front facing and then turned around and humped again 3 times back facing.

I then decided to pray for my child form protection from whatever had just occurred and got lost in prayer so I didn’t observe anything else.

At any rate this occurred 3 days ago and I’m curious if this is a common practice from other countries or idk just make sense of it. Was she of the enemy “sabotaging” the mass?

I know the eastern churches do it, I know it’s not common for the Latin rite, but it just looks so humbling. Would that be crazy?

I recently went through a breakup, i was sure that i had gotten multiple signs from God showing me she was the one, but again and again we would break up, this last break up was a bit rough, i have struggled with lust my whole life, and im discerning priesthood or religious life, i mean shoot every year getting married and having a child becomes more and more unappealing, even finding a good woman now a days is a challenge within itself. I still struggle with lust, ive definitely made progress in that field however, ive been celibate for about 2 years now, only problem is that now that im out of a relationship, i want to try and talk to my old hookups, the urge has definitely become stronger. Im looking to go into a vocational retreat, my next one is in October, hopefully i can attend, im going back to school for my RN. Just a venting post, open to prayers and advice, dunno what about really just anything helps, thanks.

Do you say grace before you eat every time? I rarely remember until after I’ve finished eating. Then I say a little prayer in my head but I feel ungrateful that I don’t think of God first and thank him before I eat.

I’m trying to get in the habit but it’s hard. It’s making me realize how I tend to wolf down my food so automatically. I’d like to be more mindful when eating generally.

If anyone has tips or tricks to remember to pray before eating, I’d appreciate it.

I was saying the Rosary and since it was Tuesday, it was the Sorrowful Mysteries. And for one reason or another I rarely pray the Rosary on Tuesdays. So this was a new experience. I couldnt help but marvel at how Christ's Sorrowful Mysteries mirror so much myriad human suffering.

The Agony in the Garden shows Christ in emotional turmoil and grief

The Scourging at the Pillar puts Him through physical agony.

The Crowning of Thorns puts Him through mockery.

The Carrying of the Cross is pure exhaustion and a knowledge of impending dread

And His Crucifixion and Death (obviously) show us mortality in its most brutal form.

I'm sure wiser minds than mine have already written on this, but it hit me and I thought I'd share.

Pleaseeee and thank youuu it means a lot to me and everyone

I've been attending mass regularly lately and have been enjoying being fed spiritually. At each mass though, I notice not many people take the wine, only the bread. I wonder if this is due to hygiene reasons? The last time I took wine I was a bit grossed out when I looked in the cup. I wonder if maybe it's time to have the wine a different way, eg. In small shot glasses, one per person, not reused? Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.

At the beginning of the year, I had a very severe hemorrhage caused by adenomyosis. I bled every day for two months, and my platelet count dropped significantly. I came very close to needing a blood transfusion. I was able to recover, but now I have a lump in my right breast. I will be having a biopsy next week. I am a mother of four, and I ask for your prayers. Thank you.

don’t really know how to explain this without it sounding strange, but I’ve been dealing with really bad OCD and overthinking for months now and it’s gotten to the point where I barely remember what it was like to just read something normally.

It started with me becoming way too aware of whether I was actually understanding what I was reading. Then I started questioning definitions of words I’ve known forever. Things like guilty, sentencing, trial, law, government, ownership, buying and selling, what a company is, what it means to order someone to do something. Just completely normal concepts that I never had trouble understanding before.

I’d ask myself what something “really” means, come up with the definition, then question the words in that definition. Then I’d question that explanation too. I’ve done this so much that sometimes familiar words just feel blank now.

It’s gotten ridiculously basic. The other day I got stuck on the word “garden” and started wondering whether a garden meant the actual plants and flowers or the tiled/walking area around them. I know that sounds almost absurd written out, but that’s genuinely where my mind is at. Instead of just seeing a garden and understanding the whole thing normally from context, my brain wants to dissect exactly what part the word refers to. Then I’m questioning something I would never have given a second thought to before.

I haven’t properly read a book or watched TV normally in months. Even imagining something while I’m reading has become something I check. I’ll picture the scene and immediately think, “Wait, did I imagine that correctly? Is that actually what happened?” Before all of this, I obviously never sat around thinking about how I understood things. I just understood them and moved on.

It’s honestly gotten so bad that sometimes I feel like I don’t even know what reality is anymore. I don’t mean that literally, like I don’t know where I am or think the world is fake. I mean I’ve questioned normal everyday knowledge for so long that things I’ve known for years can suddenly feel completely unfamiliar.

And I’ve been praying through all of this constantly. Every day I pray Hail Marys and Our Fathers, but a lot of the time I also just talk to God normally. Nothing formal or eloquent. I’ll literally lie there and plead with the Lord to please help me, heal my mind, let me read normally again, let me understand things without questioning everything, and give me some peace. Sometimes I don’t even know what else to say anymore besides, “Lord, please help me.”

The OCD has started grabbing onto religious concepts too. I can suddenly find myself questioning exactly what grace means, what a blessing means, what healing means — things I wasn’t confused about before. I really don’t want my relationship with God to turn into another endless definition-checking exercise.

I miss just reading. I miss watching something and following the story. I miss learning about something without stopping to examine whether I understood every word correctly. And I miss being able to pray without my mind finding something else to question.

If anyone here has gone through OCD or scrupulosity like this, especially where it starts attacking basic comprehension and meanings, I’d really appreciate hearing from you.

Please pray for me. I’m exhausted and I really want to get better.

Im experiencing debilitating anxiety and depression and daily panic attacks based on a work situation and the unknowns of the future of my job. Trying to get my medication figured out and going to weekly psychiatry and therapy visits.Please send any prayers my way that everything will work out better than I expect it to. Ive got a family to support.

Title says it all. I wrote it last night and havent made very many revisions since because everything still hurts. I just felt like sharing it for others to understand how difficult it is to love god and still battle mental illnesses. I have multiple mental illnesses. Please be gentle, please be kind. I'm putting a lot of my vulnerabilities here hoping someone gets it.

i'll say my prayers like a saint 

talk to god about my pain

Wonder how badly i mustve sinned

begging him to free me from all that's been

God, do you know?

It k!lls me that you wont let me go.

This mission, this life you sent me on,

is something i so desperately want gone.

God, are you there?

Sometimes it feels like you dont care.

Im dying everyday, im in so much pain

you make me stay, but what do i have to gain?

God, are you listening?

Ive cried out to you

like all the prophets whom you've used

for your mission and your glory

But why must so much agony be part of my story?

God, dont you understand?

im not your strongest soldier,

no longer do i want to endure.

spiritual warfare or mental insanity

i cant take the feeling of having a monster out to get me

God, why dont you see?

I'm a failure of your creation.

From normal human things to sinful ideation,

i dont know whats right or wrong,

i only know that i screw up and cant seem to stop

God, what do i believe?

Will i be in hell? Will i be unredeemable?

Will you forgive me and rewrite gospel? 

I can pray for discernment all i want,

but ultimately you get to decide if what i deserve is punishment.

God, please, have mercy on me.

i'll go down on my knees again, I'll fall prostrate.

anything for your forgiveness of the mistakes ive made

everything is blurry, nothing is clear anymore

are you really carrying me as we walk along the shore? (footprints ref)

God, please, im in so much pain. 

There are no words, for the weight in my chest. 

Nothing i do is good, even when i try my best.

(I wont skirt around the topic,) If i k!lled myself because i fell apart,

would you really think that i didn't trust enough in your loving heart?

God, please, i promise I'm trying.

I promise I'm the same girl who wants to serve you.

I promise im still the same child you once knew.

But i cannot, i cannot, take this anymore. 

I cannot take this anymore.

God, please, im begging you.

i dont know what im asking for anymore.

please let me come home

Like the title says, I messed up in communion when receiving the Eucharist. I have been Catholic for three years now and sometimes mess up from time to time and say “thanks be to Christ” when receiving the Eucharist as I was Lutheran for 22 years. Typically I correct myself right away and say amen.

I have been attending a church for about a year now and this is not the church I went through OCIA at. The associate pastor today during communion took the Eucharist back from me after saying thanks be to Christ and questioned if I was Catholic, how long I’ve been Catholic, how long I’ve been attending the Church, and why I don’t know what to say. I messed up, and I understand that, but we were in the middle of communion when he did this. I was absolutely mortified when he did this and I am really wondering if I messed up that badly to warrant a response like that. I mean, the entire area next to us heard and the pastor had to nudge him to keep going. Is it wrong that I don’t necessarily want to go back to this church and find a new one? The associate pastor has served me communion multiple times before as I attend regularly, so I’m a bit surprised he acted like he did not know me. I just can’t wrap my head around what happened besides feeling extremely embarrassed.

Hello, dear German Catholics—if any of you are reading this /r, I could use your help.

I’m French and moved to Germany about a year ago. I met my partner here and am now lucky enough to be part of a family in Germany. But as we all know, family life comes with its share of difficult moments. I was there with them at a funeral a few weeks ago and felt really awkward because I couldn’t really “participate in the ceremony properly” since I didn’t know the phrases and prayers by heart in German.

Can you give me some guidance on what I need to learn? If you have, for example, something for children with the main prayers written on it, I'd love to have it!

Are the phrases and prayers basically the same as in French? We have the “Our Father” as well as the “Universal Prayer” (sorry if the translation isn't quite right).

Thanks !!

I am female, 28 years old. I feel like I’m genuinely obsessed with someone I dated when I was 12–14 years old, and I’m trying to figure out whether I need to let this go or whether other people have experienced something similar.

Every time I’ve gone through a major breakup, my mind goes back to him. I was in a five-year relationship, it ended, and I thought about him. Then I got into another relationship almost immediately afterward that lasted 4.5 years. That relationship ended too, and here I am again thinking about him constantly.

Recently, I added him on Instagram. He ended up messaging me, gave me his phone number, and we’ve been talking. He says he’s interested and says a lot of the right things, but his actions make me question it. He’ll regularly take 5+ hours to respond, and sometimes he literally takes a day or two. I understand that adults are busy and nobody owes me constant texting, but the overall energy just doesn’t feel reciprocated. I’m obviously much more emotionally invested than he is.

He’s also very attractive and probably has plenty of options. I’m currently overweight, and although people tell me I’m attractive, I know I’m not feeling or looking like the best version of myself right now.

The part that makes this so difficult is that I have always had this bizarrely strong intuition about him. Even when we were teens, I felt something with him that I have never experienced with anyone else. I’ve had two serious adult relationships totaling almost 10 years, and somehow I still come back to this person.

Now that I’m religious, it’s even harder to explain. I feel this almost spiritual, magnetic connection to him. When I look into his eyes, I feel like I see God. It feels like God walks alongside him. I know how dramatic that sounds, but the strange thing is that I felt something similar when I was 12 years old, long before I became religious in the way I am now.
For years, I’ve had this feeling that I’m eventually going to marry him. Not necessarily tomorrow or even anytime soon, but that somehow our lives are going to keep circling back to each other until we finally end up together.

At the same time, I’m trying not to romanticize someone who isn’t actually choosing me in the present.

So I guess my question is: how do you handle feeling spiritually or intuitively convinced that someone is meant to be your spouse when that connection isn’t being fully reciprocated right now?

Do I keep engaging with him and give this time to develop? Do I pull back because his communication is showing me that I’m not a priority? Do I completely stop pursuing it and trust that, if we really are meant to find each other again, it will happen naturally in the future?

I especially want to hear from religious people who have experienced that overwhelming feeling that God was somehow leading them toward a particular person. Did that intuition turn out to be right? And if the timing was wrong or the feelings weren’t initially mutual, how did you handle it without either forcing the relationship or giving up on something that might eventually happen?